Clear pathways and sight lines. Your pathway, ideally, should be large enough for 3 or 4 people to walk through a room a t a time without bumping into anything

Colour schemes need to coordinate room-to-room if you can see multiple rooms from one view point

Scents: scents are important to your home as a bad smell like pets or cooking odours can turn a person off when buying a house but overcompensating by putting offensive odours or air fresheners in every room isn’t the solution either. Ideally put a cinnamon stick in water. Especially in a kitchen, as it gives the home a ‘warm apple pie scent’

Kitchens need to be spotlessly clean. Especially the oven and appliances. Clear all clutter from the counters. Pack away all small appliances (microwaves, tea kettles, toaster ovens, etc.). No dirty dishes or tea towels (use brand new tea towels for display and hide the ones you actually use).

Bedrooms must be appealing to look at. A ‘calming’ look is ideal. Closets need to be spacious and organized to give the appearance of ample storage (if you have tons of stuff pack it away). Remove all posters in teenagers’ rooms—especially any that might be offensive. Patterned bedspreads don’t show well in photographs.

Basements: basement stairs must be clear of all objects, no brooms hanging, no dog food, NOTHING on the stairs. IF the stairs are wood they should be freshly painted. If the basement is unfinished the floor should be freshly painted. IF you’re packing boxes to move and putting them in the basement do not put cardboard boxes on the concrete floor, raise them up so that air flows otherwise you will get a damp and musky smell in the basement (don’t put them against the wall either).

Garages: make sure people can enter and see in the garage. Clutter in the garage is better than in the house but people like the idea of having storage in the garage and/or being able to fit a car in there. If needed rent a storage unit temporarily to store your ‘stuff’.

Divorcing couples: if the home is in a husband and wife’s name, and one spouse is living in the home and the other isn’t, it is a good idea to stage the home as if cohabitation was happening so that both buyers can envision themselves living there. Also, they could use the divorce factor against you to negotiate a lower price.

If your house is vacant or almost vacant, you will need to rent or borrow furniture and artwork to make the home reasonably lived in. Buyers can’t imagine how a room would look without furniture in it (and rooms look much bigger with furniture in it!).

If your house is vacant, ask me about virtual staging!

If all these tips gave you an ah-ha moment—then you’ll love the other professional tips that I have to offer, so follow my blog—or simply give me a call for an in-home consultation.